The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) and Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has allowed the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) to use drones to carry out research and inspection activities at its three power plants in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
"Conditional exemption has been granted to NTPC for the deployment of Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) for carrying out research and inspection activities at Vindhyachal Super Thermal Power Station, Madhya Pradesh, Gadarwara Super Thermal Power Plant, Madhya Pradesh, and Sipat Super Thermal Power Project, Chhattisgarh using drones," the Ministry said in a statement on Friday.
Amber Dubey, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation said, "NTPC will use the drones to carry out terrain mapping, stockpile volumetric analysis, aerial inspections and other applications at the three NTPC sites. This will provide NTPC excellent data with high accuracy at a fraction of the cost."
"This is in line with Government of India's attempts to promote use of industrial drones in infrastructure, mining, agriculture and disaster relief," the Joint Secretary added.
The conditional exemption is till December 31, 2020 or until the full operationalisation of Digital Sky Platform, whichever is earlier.
( With inputs from ANI )
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